ok so most crafter’s blogs go a bit on the quiet side in the run up to Christmas for fear of spoilers, but now that Christmas has come and gone and we have started the new year I can finally share the gifts I managed to make this year!

The first selection of gifts I made

In the photo above you can see 2 make up bags made for my cousins with some fat quarters I purchased from Celtic Fusion Fabrics who I love ordering from as you always seem to get a little snippet of something extra; a pencil case made from some fabric from my stash for another cousin, it was my first attempt at making a boxy pouch, I need to work on calculating the depth for these I think. You can also see socks! I love knitting socks and where would I be without Knitty.com for their extensive collection of free sock patterns? Here we have some lovely thick Thuja socks (in the brown) for my uncle, some delightful Monkey socks for my mum (the green ones) and the pink are Spring Forward socks, made for my friend. You can find all the patterns available for free through the Knitty website, while I own a couple of sock pattern books, I have found the best patterns on this site.

I also made two sets of these Lavender Sachets:

mmm my house smelled gorgeous for a while, these might become a bit of an addiction

These were my first attempt at lavender sachets so I kept them quite simple, relying on the gorgeous summersault fabric by Erin McMorris with a little stash fabric instead of trying to make some fancy shapes etc. Also, I was uncertain whether the quilting fabric would be too thick and keep too much of the lovely lavender scent locked in if used for both the front and back, so for the backing I used some muslin, which I now think may have been too fine.

The muslin backing

A late addition to the Christmas crafting gift list were these patchwork cushions for my OH’s mum.

I like these so much I nearly kept them for my sofa

You may remember these cushions I made a while back. My OH’s mum liked them so I was asked to make some for her birthday, which I managed even though I ended up having to track down the fabric through Etsy and get it shipped from the states. They were a hit. So much so, that it was mentioned that she might like another couple of cushions to go with them for Christmas. Sure I said, love to, but this time I couldn’t get hold of the fabric and I couldn’t find a different fabric that I thought would complement the existing cushion covers (I’d already been told that they didn’t have to be the same). So, time to try out a new skill! I’d been wanting to try hexagon paper piecing for a while, I thought it would be an ideal way to use up some of the leftover cuts I have collected from previous projects, here was the perfect opportunity to try it out. I ordered some freezer paper hexagons (my cutting skills are atrocious and inaccurate) and away I went, finding the process of hand stitching these hexagons soothing and highly addictive. I had originally planned to have the entire cushion front as hexagons, but as I was piecing them and laying them out, I thought it might be a bit much and I toyed with the arrangement a bit until I ended up with these, which I love love love!

As ever, I ran out of time to get all of the crafting done that I wanted to for Christmas, but the only projects I missed out on were ones for me, I managed to get all of the gifts done which is the important thing, but for next Christmas I swear I am going to manage to get that embroidered stuffed reindeer done, it’s been in the project pile for 2 years now, maybe if I start in July next time…